Sheldon’s new errand boy; Caesars: Let’s make a deal

Las Vegas Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson is known to be the Lady Bountiful of the 2016 election, showering promising senatorial candidates with cash. One such hopeful is tom_cottonArkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (R), who has thrown a legislative Hail Mary, attempting to reverse the Obama administration’s interpretation of the Wire Act. At least that seems to be Cotton’s intent, which could be as broad as to ban Internet gambling altogether. Trouble is, the bill has a number but actually hasn’t been written yet, a technicality that hasn’t kept Cotton from putting in the hopper, perhaps hoping to attach it as a rider to some must-pass piece of legislation at year’s end. (Adelson’s minions tried this with Restore America’s Wire Act and failed miserably.) What we know for sure about the Cotton bill is that it is “to ensure the integrity of laws enacted to prevent the use of financial instruments for funding or operating online casinos are not undermined by legal opinions not carrying the force of law issued by Federal Government lawyers.” At the least, that sounds like an attempt to give UIGEA more teeth. While the Poker Players Alliance monitors the situation, it remains to be seen whether Cotton is attempting to curry favor with Sheldon or is acting at his behest. Generally speaking, if it looks like Adelson and barks like Adelson, it’s Adelson.

* Caesars Entertainment‘s offer to dissident creditors is even more generous — by an extra $400,000 (rechanneled from payments to senior creditors) — than previously Caesars imagethought. Caesars attempted to set an ultimatum, saying this was its “best and final proposal.” The first part of the statement is true but it remains to be seen about the second half. Although the offer was to have expired last Saturday, talks continued this week, with the company professing optimism as it offered junior creditors 66 cents on the dollar. At least one bondholder says the new offer is spinach and to hell it with. “We believe that Caesars’ actions, which we believe violated federal securities laws and were cloaked in secrecy, damage our capital markets and we are prepared to fully litigate the matter,” said Trilogy Capital Management Director of Research Barry Kupferberg. Despite this rejection, Caesars said “significant progress” had been made and it was “optimistic that an agreement will be reached.”

As for a post-bankruptcy Caesars, Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. is sniffing around the assets, looking for some low-hanging fruit. Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli met with GLPI and said “while it has taken a wait and see approach, it had provided proposals, noting that these proposals were not enough to establish two way dialogues.”

* What part of “no” does Jeff Gural not understand? The horseracing mogul, having failed to sell New Jersey voters on casino expansion this year, says he’ll be back in 2018 with a referendum to bring casino gambling to Meadowlands Racetrack. Caught between a pincer movement of Atlantic City casino unions and Genting Group‘s Resorts World New York, Gural’s 2016 effort began promisingly, then crumbled. The Trump 1anti-establishment sentiment ginned up by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D) and by Donald Trump (pictured) blindsided Gural. “The mood of the country is this anti-government message. It was something we weren’t expecting,” he said lamely.

As predicted by S&G readers, Gural is trying to reframe the issue as the salvation of Garden State horseracing. “Horse racing in New Jersey has been destroyed. I thought if I built a beautiful facility and offered to give the taxpayers $500 million a year, people would get on the bandwagon. Not this year. Eventually, there will be a casino at the Meadowlands. There has to be.” Although lawmakers never got around to allocating the tax dollars that a Meadowlands casino would generate, Gural posited himself as Atlantic City’s savior. “They have no shot at survival now. There’s no money to rebuild Atlantic City now.” What a dick. Don’t let the doorknob hit you on the way out, Jeff.

* It’s been four years since Illinois legalized slot routes and the Land of Lincoln is home to 24,000 machines (much to the chagrin of some casino operators). Slot mogul Chris Stone, owner of 20 routes, said, “We’re not surprised about the fact that it boomed. We knew there were players out there. We knew there was a niche market for us.” The economic impact — including and beyond tax revenue — is estimated at $785 million, posing a serious economic threat to the state’s riverboat casinos. One operator, Penn National Gaming, has decided it would rather switch than fight, acquiring a slot-route operation of its own. One good thing that’s come out of the slot-route explosion is that it’s put the kibosh on talk of lifting the state’s 10-casino cap or of converting the state’s horse tracks to racinos.

* It’s early in Global Gaming Expo yet but it appears that International Game Technology will have the most heartwarming game on display, Lucky’s Quest. In it, Lucky, a purple dragon goes in search of his abducted mother. Awwwww!

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